Similarly the Ayurvedic tradition of India emphasized rest and relaxation and nutritional well-being, along with various mentally stimulating exercises. Ayurvedic resorts are still popular in the East. Buddhism is also viewed as an avenue out of depression -- a mode to enlightenment. Nonetheless, as James C.-Y. Chou (2005) states, "The concept of psychological depression in Eastern cultures is not as well accepted as it is in Western cultures. In fact, the whole idea of illness in Eastern cultures is based on physical illness…if they have a psychological illness, then they are perceived as being a persistently mentally ill patient as you would see in a state hospital…it's stigmatized."

Perhaps more than any ancient civilization, the Greeks "took a great interest in the human psyche and especially in madness. Plato who lived in the 5th and 4th centuries BC speaks about two kinds of madness, one with a divine origin and...
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